HADLEY — Residents in a neighborhood off Rocky Hill Road, being impacted by speeding vehicles whose drivers may be trying to avoid the ongoing Route 9 construction and attempting to find faster ways to get around town, are asking that a speed hump be installed on their road.
With a blind corner caused by a large bush partially blocking sightlines, and no sidewalks for children, Highland Circle residents told the Select Board last week they have increasing concerns for safety.
“Over the course of this time, people have discovered Highland Circle as a cut through of sorts coming north and south of Hadley, and we’ve seen traffic pick up here quite a lot,” said Highland Circle resident Daniel Kasal.
The partially dead-end street, which connects Rocky Hill to Huntington Road, had been a sleepy neighborhood with many elderly residents, but in recent years more families and children are living there, Kasal said.
Amanda Barnett, also of Highland Circle, said that parents try to be present when the eight to 10 children are playing near the road, but even when they are standing nearby, cars continue to go too fast.
“It’s people being on their cellphones or looking at their navigation systems, and the fact that it’s not an ideal cut through, so they speed up, slow down to go around the corner, and then speed up again to make up for lost time,” Barnett said.
Elena Betske-Brunswick said there’s no visibility on the street for drivers coming from Rocky Hill Road. “The way cars fly through is very scary,” Betske-Brunswick said.
But the Select Board, in consultation with Department of Public Works Director Scott McCarthy, told residents that these issues will be first addressed by installing signs and doing enforcement.
McCarthy said a speed hump would cause problems, such as possibly catching and damaging a snow plow in the winter. “Putting a speed bump in there on an old road has its own challenges,” McCarthy said.
McCarthy said he would prefer to install “children at play” and “not a through way” signs, observing that other neighborhoods will make similar appeals for speed humps.
“Where do we stop with this?” he said.
Select Board member Amy Parsons said she would be uncomfortable with adding speed humps, due to the challenges for plowing and maintenance.
“My big concern is for the DPW,” said Chairman Randy Izer.
Adding signs and trimming or removing the bush seems sensible. “I think if we could put up signs and do something with that bush,” Izer said.
Interim Town Administrator Michael Mason, who is also Hadley’s police chief, said he would need to know what the costs are, though as police chief anything to slow vehicles down can be a positive.
A few years ago the town installed three speed humps on North Lane, a popular commuter route that runs along the dike and connects West Street and River Drive.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.